Idina Menzel takes on Bette Midler’s iconic role in ‘Beaches‘ movie for Lifetime

Broadway goddess Idina Menzel will be starring in the Lifetime’s upcoming movie Beaches. The actress with the golden voice will be playing Bette Midler’s character from the 1988 Garry Marshall classic of the same name.

The Frozen star personally made her attachment to the project public on Twitter on July 28:

In case you are deprived of popular culture knowledge, the original feature came out and starred Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey — had two strong female leads back in the 80s and was a tear-jerking story about love and friendship.

Menzel will be taking on Midler’s iconic role as CC — an aspiring star and her unexpected lifelong friendship with a girl of white privilege, Hillary (Hershey in the original). The younger version of CC was played by none other than a young Blossom (actress Mayim Bialik).

The picture was directed by the late Garry Marshall and is known for the theme song ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ — which also scored song of the year at the Grammys.

Is it all coming back to you now?

Lifetime’s movie is said to come out sometime next year — and there’s still no word about the casting for Hershey’s character.

The movie is set to start production later this summer in Vancouver — and we couldn’t be more excited. In fact, with this news, we could fly higher than an eagle.

Gaysian. Writer. Feminist. Beagle mom. Co-founder of TheFeminismProject.com. Fruit Ninja.
With all the feelings, Chloe has been doing the online journalism thing (print freelance on the side) for over a decade. From writing for TVGuide.ca after graduating from Ryerson University's Journalism program to having a lesbian dating column for TheLoop.ca to reporting pieces for The Toronto Star and most recently digital editor for Totem. She lives to write — freelancing for Curve, Xtra!, S Style, TraveLife and more. In addition to the word thing, Chloe gets her tech on as she also builds, designs and runs websites. Lately, she's also been wearing her advocacy hat as a panelist at ClexaCon at the Queer Women of Colour Representation in the Media panel. She used to serve as an executive board member for the CCNCTO and was part of organizing the first PinkDotTO march. But her heart beats within the codes of TheFeminismProject.com. Heck yeah!